Construction Companies Fined $85,000 Total After Workers Exposed to Carbon Monoxide

Convicted: Fieldgate Construction Management Inc., a construction and development company located at 5400 Yonge Street, Suite 501, North York, Ontario, and Metro Concrete Works [2016] Inc., a concrete placing and finishing company located at 90 Gregory Scott Drive, Vaughan, Ontario

Location of Workplace: 5868 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario

Description of Offence: Workers experienced health effects following exposure to carbon monoxide in the workplace. Fieldgate Construction Management Inc. failed, as the constructor, to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 47(3) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 were carried out, contrary to section 23(1)(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and Metro Concrete Works [2016] Inc. failed, as an employer, to ensure compliance with the same regulatory requirement contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Date of Offence: July 4, 2023

Date of Conviction: August 28, 2026

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Toronto, Fieldgate Construction Management Inc. was fined $55,000 and Metro Concrete Works [2016] Inc. was fined $30,000 by Justice of the Peace Esther N. Daniel; Crown Counsel were Alicia Gordon-Fagan and Kennedy McKee-Braide, Student-at-Law.
• The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Background:

• Fieldgate Construction Management Inc. (FCML) was the constructor for a project to build a new car dealership. The project included a three-level parking garage.
• Metro Concrete Works [2016] Inc. (Metro) was subcontracted by FCML to install an approximately three-inch concrete topping layer over the structural concrete floor at the project.
• On the day of the incident, workers were finishing concrete using hand tools and gasoline-powered concrete finishing machines.
• A Metro worker and several other workers began to feel unwell. Emergency Medical Services attended the project and treated multiple workers for carbon monoxide exposure.
• Toronto Fire Services tested the air and found elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the parking garage and began ventilating the building.
• FCML and Metro were testing and monitoring air quality in the parking garage. However, initial testing showed that workers were exposed to carbon monoxide levels that exceeded the applicable limits.
• A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that Level P2, where workers were using the gasoline-powered concrete finishing equipment, was not being adequately tested for airborne concentrations of carbon monoxide in accordance with section 47(3) of Ontario Regulation 213/91.